Not Just A Cat Chapter Eight
NOT JUST A CAT, CHAPTER EIGHT Sera slashed her sword through the air a few times, as if she was showing off it's beauty and capability. “Ready to lose, father?” she asked. “The only person who you should be asking that question to is yourself, Seraphiniaph,” said Kahn. One question was going through my mind- why had Kahn changed? He went from a very bratty, snobby cat to a fatherly man. Did seeing Sera change him, remind him that he was better than being rude, and that he was still a husband and father? Sera laughed. “I should ask myself if I’m ready to lose? Yeah, right!” she said. “Really father, mother taught me much more than she taught you. Sure, she taught you a few things-” Sera lunged at Kahn and slashed her sword. The end of it barely slashed Kahn’s wrist, and a small trickle of blood crawled down the end of his hand. “But not everything,” Sera said, smiling. “Kahn!” I yelled, surprised that he had not fought back. Sera may be Kahn's daughter, but she is still an enemy and the villain in this battle. “Shut up, Rider!” Sera yelled at me coldly, and I jumped back at the sound of her deep, horrifying voice. Kahn looked up at Sera. “It looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” he said, not smiling one bit. “The only hard way is me killing you with a sword through the chest,” Sera said, looking into the eyes of her father, not smiling as well. The battle grew more intense by the very second. Kahn tried to use his spinning attack that he used on Po multiple times, but Sera just dodged it and used it as a chance to slash Kahn. Kahn bled, and Sera bled less. At one point, Sera’s sword slipped out of her hand, and Kahn used it as an opportunity to hit her. He hit her with his de-clawed hand on her cheek. A loud slapping sound echoed into the night, and Sera clutched her cheek, quickly getting her sword and attempting to slash Kahn for what seemed like the millionth time. The battle grew older, and more intense. Kahn was breathing heavily, and Sera looked like she was just getting started. Sera smiled cruelly, obviously noticing this. She then took her sword in her paw and slashed Kahn as hard as she could. I gasped in a high-pitched tone and buried my face in my hands after I saw the blood spill onto the sandy beach and heard Kahn screaming in pain, unable to see any more of this happen. Trinity and Nicole had long since looked away. I wished that Sera would just disappear forever, and none of this would have happened at all. I felt a wet substance come onto my hands from my eyes. The watery liquid seeped through the small opening in between my fingers and trickled down my hands. They were tears. Wet, salty tears. I didn't want to cry at all. I wanted to stay strong for Nicole, for Trinity, for Kahn. But sometimes crying is the only way to cure my sadness. I heard Nicole sobbing uncontrollably and I felt Po’s furry arms wrap around me as comfort. I immediately felt a little better. When I’m around Po I feel… joyful, the opposite of sad. I slowly found the strength to lift my hands off of my eyes and look at what was happening. Kahn was on the ground, wounded horribly (I was about to scream, but reminded myself that it would do no good at all). Sera was pointing her sword at him, laughing evilly. “Weak,” Sera taunted. “India’s king, on the ground, about to be killed by his own daughter. I wonder what mom will say when you see her in the afterlife in a minute or so.” Her cheesy evil smile was unbearable to look at. Kahn was breathing heavily, unable to say anything. He started looking around, as if taking his last few glances at the world. He spied the ocean and stopped breathing heavily. I wondered what was going on inside his cat mind. Maybe the ocean’s sight healed him, I don’t know. I saw the slightest smile appear on his face. It was barely noticeable, but I swear that I saw it. “Shangari will not be seeing me in the afterlife today,” Kahn said. “Or should I say, the goddess of joy will not be seeing me today.” Sera gasped, almost dropping her sword to the ground in pure shock. Her lower jaw was on the ground, and her eyes seemed to bulge out of their sockets. “But… but… how did you know!?” she exclaimed, growing furious and utterly upset. “You thought that she would never tell her own husband that she’s a goddess?” Kahn asked. Sera stayed silent, her mouth wide opened, eyes bulging. “She… she told me that we were the only ones who knew!” Sera finally said. “By ‘we’, she meant her and I!” “By we, Shangari meant you, her, and I,” Kahn replied. Sera stayed silent after that, eyes locked on her father, sword still pointed at Kahn, locked in a fighting position. All of us were breathing fast, hearts thumping hard, expecting Sera to slash her sword, ending Kahn’s life. I bet Kahn was expecting that as well. Finally, Sera pulled her sword back as fast as a viper, ready to slash it at Kahn. Just at that second, Kahn got up and got into a fighting position. “Not giving up yet, are you?” Sera asked. “Your mother would not have wanted either of us to give up,” was Kahn’s answer. “Well she would have wanted you in the afterlife with her!” Sera yelled, slashing her sword. Luckily, Kahn jumped up, dodging the hit. Sera looked up at him, her sword at the ready. "After all," she cried, "you're the reason that she's there!" Kahn landed on her, nearly crushing her. He had his knee on her back, while she lay stomach-down on the sandy ground. Sera spun around on the sand, sending Kahn’s leg backwards and allowing herself to get free. Kahn swiveled back, about to fall down. He steadied himself just in time to dodge a hit from Sera. He jumped into the air, moving himself towards the water’s edge. Sera followed him, and she too was at the edge of the water. Kahn landed on his daughter a second time. Sera twisted herself again and let him off of her, smiling at herself. “Wrong choice,” I heard Kahn mutter. Sera got herself up, at the very edge of the water, about to swing her sword. Just then, I saw Kahn do something that I thought of, but only someone who knew Sera’s weaknesses would do- He pushed Sera into the water. Sera screamed as she took the plunge into the warm, dark water. I smiled, remembering my research on cats that I did in the first grade. One important fact was that most of them couldn’t stand water. Kahn had pushed Sera into the part of the water was obviously not shallow, because only Sera’s head and arms came up. “Help me!” Sera screamed, thrashing about comically, which was quite funny to me. “I can’t swim! I can’t swim! HELP!” Kahn took the plunge into the water to help his daughter as her head and arms sank into the dark water, the moonlight reflecting off of the place where she had fallen, and vanished. Even though we knew that Kahn had now won, my heart was still thumping like mad, unable to settle down. Po’s arms were still wrapped around me, making warmth flood my body. I nuzzled up against him, telling myself to stop crying and start calming down. “Kahn,” I said. I kept repeating his name for no apparent reason at all, still afraid that Sera would come back and hurt him again. Kahn came up a few seconds later, holding Sera in his arms. She was unconscious, her eyes closed. Kahn looked up at her warriors. “The one she calls her boyfriend, come with me,” Kahn ordered. “The others, go back to wherever she has her warriors.” “And why should we listen to you?” Jarube demanded, holding his sword out. “Because I can end her very life with one slash from this sword,” Kahn said, holding up Sera’s sword in his hand. “I would absolutely never do that, for my wife gave birth to this girl, but I can.” As soon as he said that, the fearless looks on the warrior’s faces vanished as they dropped their weapons into the sand and followed his commands. Kahn walked past us, holding Sera, Jarube at his side. Unaware of where he was going, we followed him. “Kahn,” Nicole said, wiping her eyes, trying to talk to Kahn. “Kahn, are you okay?” “I’m fine,” Kahn said, showing no emotion, like a wall of steel. “It’s my daughter who isn’t okay.” We followed Kahn all the way. Nobody spoke on the way there. We just walked, following Kahn, wondering where he was leading us. When we reached our destination, we realized it- the Jade Palace. Master Shifu and the furious five were sitting on the palace steps, worried looks on their faces. When we reached them, they had millions of questions for us. We calmly tried to explain to them what had happened (even though absolutely no one could explain what had happened) , and they immediately brought us inside to clear us of any wounds. Sera was placed on Trinity’s bed to rest there until she would wake up, whenever that would be. Kahn was brought into a spare room to be cleared of his scars and bruises, and I went into my room to change and see if I had any wounds on me that I didn’t know of. As I examined myself in the mirror of my room, looking at my thin, peachy colored body, searching for anything that looked like a scar or bruise, the sun began peeking over the valley, making the sky a beautiful light pink color, like a bubblegum flavored lollipop. I looked out the window, sighing, relieved that I was still alive and that nothing bad had happened to any of us. It was a complete relief to see the sun rise, like the world was telling us, "It's okay. You're alive. Everything's fine, there's no need to cry anymore." Such a comforting feeling! I heard a knock on my door and turned around. “Yes?” I asked, quickly slipping a clean shirt on over my arms. It was a lime green spaghetti strap shirt, showing off my thin shoulders and scrawny arms. “It’s me,” I heard a familiar voice say. I recognized it as Trinity’s. “One second, I’m changing,” I replied. I pulled a pair of black jeans over my legs and zipped them up. “Okay, I’m done.” Trinity entered the room, wearing a white sundress. I also noticed that she was shoeless, her thin bare feet touching the bamboo flooring. Her toes were painted a shade of dark green, her favorite color, which also matched the jewel on Ai's emerald necklace. Tewey was sitting on her shoulder, twiddling his thumbs and smiling. “Sera’s waking up!” Tewey said excitedly in his adorable little voice. I looked at her. “And?” I asked, my foot tapping the floor. “And we want you to be there to see what she’s going to do and/or say,” Trinity said. “Sure,” I said. We quickly walked back into her room, where Po, Shifu, Nicole, Jarube, and Kahn were. Kahn was sitting over the bed, where Seraphiniaph was sleeping, her yellow, glowing eyes slowly opening. When her eyes did open, we all got in battle positions, ready for her to attack. All of us but Kahn and Jarube, who stayed put. Sera took a long look at her surroundings. Then she looked up at Kahn, who was smiling at her in a fatherly way. What happened next shocked me completely. Few beautiful, crystal-like tears appeared at the ends of her eyes and turned into many, falling down her face. “DADDY!” Sera screamed, flinging her arms around her father. Sera then began flat-out bawling, hugging Kahn and refusing to let go. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’M SORRY, DADDY!” Sera yelled through tears, her father's comforting arms wrapped around her. She didn’t have to say it out loud for me to understand it- Seraphiniaph was sorry for her hatred towards the valley and her father. I understood why Sera was doing this, but it just shocked us. All of us were equally surprised, our mouths opening in shock, hearts stopping a bit. I even saw Shifu's eyes bulge a bit. It took Sera a long while to stop crying. When she did, she still held onto her father like her life depended on it. “I know you’re sorry,” Kahn said to Sera, speaking in gentle, soft whispers. “I would be sorry too…” We stood there, watching the scene, wondering what would happen after this. I remembered that Kahn was supposed to be the king of India, and Sera was the princess. I wondered what Kahn would decide to do- stay and become king of India or come back to the animal world to live with the Bacons and leave the country without a leader. “Seraphiniaph, I knew that you never hated me from the moment you claimed it,” Kahn said, looking at his daughter, looking like a real father, a real king, a real leader. “You’re a strong, dependable young lady, and I love you.” “I love you too,” said Sera quietly, but the way she spoke the words, it sounded like she was completely uncomfortable saying them, like she thought she wasn't worthy enough to say them. Trinity was the first one of us to speak. “Kahn?” she asked. He turned around. “Yeah?” Kahn asked, an arm around his still crying daughter. “What does this mean for us?” she asked. “I mean, I bet you want to stay with your daughter in the animal world, but if you want to come back to the human world... it’s your choice.” Kahn looked into his owner’s eyes. “I believe that the reason I ended up in the human world after I battled Sera was because I was destined to live with the Bacons,” he explained. “And that is why I want to go back.” “Then who will rule India?” Jarube asked. “The country has been without a ruler for years, and will go into chaos if it remains without one!” Kahn looked into the eyes of Sera. “Seraphiniaph will,” he said in a tone full of comforting and majesty.